Places in Middle-earth
Brandywine River
Type: Rivers & Lakes
Region: Bree/The Shire
Other Names Baranduin. Older versions from HoMe were Branduin, and "Malvern, derived from its Noldorin name Malevarn."
Location: The river originates as an outflow of Lake Nenuial (Lake Evendim) nestled in the Hills of Evendim. It makes a large loop east, south, and then southwest; the first of several loops indicating a mature river. The Brandywine continues a southerly course past The Shire, gradually heading west to reach the sea.
Description: "Both names refer to the river's colour, often in flood a golden brown, which is indeed the meaning of the Elvish name."
Peoples of Middle-earth, Part 1, Ch II, The Appendix on Languages, Commentary, Section 25.
"It ran all the way from Brandywine Bridge, in a big loop curving away from the river, to Haysend (where the Withywindle flowed out of the Forest into the Brandywine)."
FotR, Book I, Ch 5, A Conspiracy Unmasked
"To the South, over the line of the Withywindle, there was a distant glint like pale glass where the Brandywine River made a great loop in the lowlands and flowed away out of the knowledge of the hobbits."
FotR, Book I, Ch 8, Fog on the Barrow-Downs
Some brief descriptive comments from LotR are:
"the brown river Baranduin" - FotR, Prologue, Concerning Hobbits
"The Brandywine flowed slow and broad before them," and "the slow gurgling stream" - FotR, Book I, Ch 5, A Conspiracy Unmasked
From this in RotK, Appendix B, The Tale of Years "The Fell Winter. The Baranduin and other rivers are frozen." We may assume that the freezing of the Brandywine was a rare event.
Etymology
BARAN- Q varne (varni-) brown, swart, dark brown. ON barane, EN baran. Cf. river name Baranduin, Branduin. Dolbaran.
The Lost Road, The Etymologies
Contributors: Lyllyn 6.12.04
